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A Little Bit Of Face Time

Chapter eight of Graber’s Book discussed elections in the current internet age. She primarily focused on the changed between past elections and what occurred during the 2000 and 2004 elections and patterns that were discovered or changed by both the media and the citizens. She began by stating the research is still lacking, due to the high cost of monetary funds it requires, but some patterns can be looked at for comparison. She states that the types of media effects that can happen are based on a combination of the political scene, the voters’ interests and the coverage chosen by newspeople to report. She went into detail on the role of the media in the creation of the candidates and their personas, images and stereotypes. She gave a timeline for the creation of this image, through pre-pre-campaign all the way through to election night and how they mold the candidates in the publics eyes.

The advent of television has caused a change in the image of the candidates in general as well, because now they are expected to look good and be able to ‘perform’ in front of cameras that can get telecast to millions of living rooms live. Television advisors and campaign managers are crucial parts of a presidential and candidate staffs now because of this reason. Graber also discusses the idea of candidate wealth and how it affects news coverage and campaign advertising. This includes web advertising, such as emails and blogs and television commercials. Candidates are increasing their chances of coverage by planning their campaign events around other popular events that already attract the media. The amount of media coverage also varies based on whether a candidate is an incumbent or a challenger. Graber argues that journalists generally try to balance coverage for each major candidate campaigning forthe same office.

This was the issue in which I highly disagreed with Graber. Possibly, because with my age, and my new ability to vote for this past election, I paid more attention, and maybe our society truly has seen a shift in this issue since the 2004 election, but I feel that Barrack Obama received way more coverage than John McCain during the 2008 election. I also feel that the majority of the news channels strongly favored Obama and kept McCain and his issues and responses at bay. I don’t feel that journalists supply fair treatment at all to candidates these days and that the majority of them try to push their judgments and beliefs on American citizens when it comes to politics. And because of this, the positive and negative stereotypes being portrayed by the media is what helps to guide the public. It’s a never-ending cycle that I am currently not pleased with.

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One Response

“but I feel that Barrack Obama received way more coverage than John McCain during the 2008 election.”—-need a objective study. Hostile media theory predicts that everyong persen perceives that the media favor the opponents over his or her own favorate. The perception, more of the time, can just be an illusion. Although you have made your own point, the journalists will not buy the charge unless you have solid evidence.